Researching Food History

Thousands of pigs roamed the streets eating "whole joints of meat"  from the butchers and refuse from homes.  At night they wan...

Instead of baking a "Twelfth Cake" - Twelfth Night Cake, make one out of a napkin, as shown in ...

New Year’s Calls started by the Dutch in the 1600s compared to the New York socialites of the 1870s. 

Merry Christmas! ©2013 Patricia Bixler Reber HOME

"Very fashionable mince pies are made at Strasbourg, in France, from the diseased livers of geese, or other animals. These pies are n...

'The Cranberry Girl' picks cranberries on the moors of Regency Yorkshire.  Though smaller, the cranberries tasted better than thos...

11 activities in Amsterdam, York and Oxford UK, Greensboro NC, New York City, Chicago, Virginia and more   -

How do you eat the turkey after Thanksgiving dinner... sandwiches, pour heated gravy over cold slices, curried turkey?  Some 1877 recipes ...

This charming cookbook cover from 1862 Scotland includes a turkey, and within, detailed instructions to truss, roast, boil and debone...

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 an armistice [ceasefire] on the Western Front took effect.  Some countries comme...

Not any fallen leaves, but maple, beech, willow oak, hickory and aspen were worn by Americans "... in Europe, formed into wreaths for t...

As you prepare for Halloween think of an Irish tradition for that evening called Colcannon Night.  On that night "...a gold ring was co...

Trying to bite into an apple. on a string.  revolving.  with candles.  what could go wrong??  Snap-apple was one of the games played on Ha...

A wonderful wind mill sugar mill!  Other ways to power the rollers which pressed the sugar cane included slave labor, water wheels and far...

While I can’t find out if this is an official day or just put out by a person, company or trade organization, Angel Food does deserve a da...

Gerrit Dou painted "The Mousetrap " circa 1650.  (Musee Fabre)  This closeup of the mousetrap also shows the mother peeling carro...

4 food symposiums and conferences for the fall of 2013. 

" Sandwich-carrots ! - dainty Sandwich-carrots." The 1796 print by satirist James Gillray portrayed John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sa...

Described in the novel Lady Baltimore (1906) as "all soft, and it's in layers, and it has nuts,"   the Lady Baltimore Cake ha...

Joseph Bail (French, 1862-1921) painted many views of kitchen helpers and young cooks.   On this Labor Day, I’ve included some of his pai...